As was expected, a number of tax-hiking and money laundering initiatives proposed by Governor Terminator and his bleeding-heart legislature were slapped down by the citizens of California:
As expected, California voters were rejecting a package of ballot measures in Tuesday's special election that would reduce the state's projected budget deficit of $21.3 billion to something slightly less overwhelming: $15.4 billion, early returns showed.
The defeat of the measures mean that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature will have to consider deeper cuts to education, public safety and health and human services, officials have said.Propositions 1A through 1E were being defeated in early returns. Those measures seek to change the state's budgeting system, ensure money to schools in future years and generate billions of dollars of revenue for the state's general fund.
The only measure voters were approving was Proposition 1F, which would freeze salaries of top state officials including lawmakers and the governor, was the only measure that was leading in early results.
Looks like California taxpayers have finally wised up and realized the most basic tenet of economics: You can't spend what you don't have, and cannot create. Alas, the media is still stuck on stupid, and is lambasting the citizenry for their exercise of common sense. The LA Times leads with this:
California voters exercise their power -- and that's the problem
By rejecting five budget measures, Californians also brought into stark relief the fact that they, too, share blame for the political dysfunction that has brought California to the brink of insolvency....
They go on to quote the ususal suspects - politicians, liberal policy wonks, and pressure groups - to prove the voters are idiots:
"We all want a free lunch, but unfortunately that doesn't exist," said former Gov. Gray Davis,...
... voters' piecemeal decisions since the 1970s have effectively "emasculated the Legislature," said John Allswang, a retired Cal State L.A. history professor."They're looking for cheap answers -- throw the guys out of power and put somebody else in, or just blame the politicians and pretend you don't have to raise taxes when you need money," he said." This is what the public wants, and they deceive themselves constantly. They're not realistic."
And who is realistic? Politicians like Barack Obama, who is opening up unpayable trillion-dollar deficits with a wink and a smile? Well, at least he can jam tax increases down our throat, much to the delight of the media...well, at least that's the tone ABC takes in this report:
...in California, the problem is even worse because of its sheer size and an unwillingness to raise taxes. Thirty years ago, Californians passed Proposition 13, mandating an almost unachievable two-thirds vote by the legislature to raise taxes.
God forbid that spending be limited; somewhere, a heroin addict may miss out on his methadone.
Well, if the media is roaring this loud, you know the people have done something right. Will be interesting to see how this is sorted out....
No comments:
Post a Comment